Poland was rocked on Monday by the news of a high court judge from Warsaw who fled to Belarus and asked the government there for asylum.
The Belarusians organized a special press conference at which Tomasz Szmydt officially asked President Aleksandr Lukashenko for sanctuary, adding that he believes “Belarus to be a country with great potential, led by a wise leader.”
Szmydt also took to X to claim that his decision to leave his job and country was motivated by his opposition to the Polish government’s hostility towards both Belarus and Russia and his fear that stance could lead to war.
The case of the judge seems to have parallels with the deserter from the Polish army Emil Czeczko, who later committed suicide in Belarus. According to Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian minister and ambassador to Poland, the judge will be used by the Belarusian authorities as a propaganda machine to paint Poland as a warmongering country that has problems with the rule of law.
Latushka predicts that for a few months, Szmydt will be treated like a hero and may even receive housing from the government, but they will soon tire of him. The former Belarusian official, who is currently in opposition to Lukashenko, feels that Szmydt’s fate may in the end be similar to Czeczko, who was found hanged in his apartment, used and forgotten.
The current left-liberal government in Poland is claiming that Szmydt was a supporter of former justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, but the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) say that he was nominated in 2012 by Tusk-supporting President Bronisław Komorowski, when the liberals were still in power.
